I 100% agree with what dragonrider said:
dragonrider wrote:
"an idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define you or destroy you".
What I would like to contribute is that "the important part of the journey begins when we return to our body"
That is, the interpretation we give to what we have lived is crucial in how we integrate the experience. I've had trips that I can describe as "very rough", where what surrounded me were shapes that I call "the tar". Dark and unpleasant shapes, bubbling, suffocating me, in my case they appeared to me as if I had to see them, to understand something. My interpretation was that these "entities" were operating in me, they were parts of myself, that they were harming me, that were harming others. Parts that I needed to see and understand in order to remove them from my system. So that later in my day-to-day life, I could recognize them and try not to let them dominate my life.
Here inside we are legion and they say that "we are not the voices that listen, but the entity that listens to them". In psychedelic experiences "we see things about ourselves" But then we are the ones who must put in the effort every day to fix ourselves.
On the other hand, I have seen people who, after an experience, leave their partner, leave their job, start doing things they had forgotten they liked. I didn't have to do or say anything, they would start fixing themselves, "I didn't remember I was so strong, why am I so scared of losing X?"
And I've also come across cases where these experiences not only didn't help them, but fell deeper into their pathology. I thought I could help everyone with DMT, but there are cases where a specialized, multidisciplinary group should take over. I'm talking about psychedelic therapy supervised by a team of therapists.
LSD Psychotherapy by Stanislav Grof is a fantastic book, I'm sure there must be such therapies today. Maybe there are psychotherapy groups with psychedelics in the area where you live. In my opinion, I think that a rational approach can be beneficial, because in traditional rituals they tend to "condition" people, interpreting for them what they have seen, with things such as "evil spirits are chasing you", "you have seen the pacha mama", etc. Denying the possibility that it is the same person who gives them interpretation.
I hope your friend finds a way to get through it. Remember that we can't help anyone, we can only give them options and accompany them in the decisions they make, even if they are not what we expect.
"Nosce te ipsum"